Disclaimer: The X-Men aren't mine. They're Marvel's. The characters Leo Dyson, Benj Dents, Tyler Dyson, and Seth Serverus, are all of my own imagination. They are mine.

Author's note: So if you haven't noticed, I try to publish a chapter roughly once a week. I really do need reviews, because I want to know what I'm doing right, or wrong. Be as frank as you like, I don't care, just want to know. Alright this chapter has some Lance and Kitty (awww...) if you like that.

You know how in my last chapter I said there might be romance between Rogue and Benj, well don't get your hopes up, because it won't be for a while.

Lastly (gosh this is a really long author's note, but it had to be said) to quickly explain what Leo's expanded powers are: more of his physical strength he has when he's shifted has been left in his normal human form, his claws are now pure bronze, and he has a small amber-colored crystal above his heart from where he can feel power in his surrounding area. He doesn't use his powers in this chapter, but just a heads up.

Review por favor. Enjoy.

Leo lifted a box out of the back of his truck. They were finally at the X-Mansion. The Dysons were moving most of their possessions to the mansion, including a black motorcycle with bright green stripes.

Xavier had given the typical mutant talk to Tyler, though he hardly needed it. A promise of a secure place to stay was enough to convince him.

The teen flicked his tail and looked at his new home. Several X-Men were coming out of the doors, and windows, to see these new mutants. Ty saw them coming out and pulled his hood lower over his face, mutants or not, he was a demon.

Leo liked the attention. He flexed his muscles and hefted another box off the bed of the truck. A dark-skinned girl was watching him. He stopped his work and walked over to her. More help was coming to unload the truck anyways, he could take a break.

"Hola, bonita" he said.

She looked him up and down then responded in Spanish, "¿Puedo ayudarte?" ("Can I help you?")

"Si, mi bonita. I seem to have gotten lost in your eyes. You mind pointing me the way?" Leo faked a sad, puppy dog face.

The girl laughed, "Sure. You see," she pointed to the ground and carved a small map into the ground with a thin jet of lava.

Stepping back, Leo smiled. He was going to like it here. He wouldn't have to hide what he was if everyone else was on the same page. "Me llamo Leo Dyson." ("My name's Leo Dyson.") "¿Qué te llaman?" ("What do they call you?")

"Amara," the girl said.

He grinned, "A Brazilian! I can tell by your accent. Why it is very nice to meet you."

The Amara turned to a spikey blonde-haired girl beside her. Tabitha had returned to be alongside her friend. They both laughed. "Likewise. And this is Tabitha."

"Watch it newbie," Tabitha said, "this girl packs some heat. You sure you want her?"

He grinned, "Hey, I like a girl with power. Even more if they're beautiful and a mutant." He whispered getting very close to Amara.

She giggled and began flirting back.

Logan grunted as he lifted the motorcycle and set it down. "It looks like the new kid is settling in already."

Charles nodded. "Now that this Apocalypse business is done, I think taking in more recruits is just what we needed."

While Leo was flirting with the girls a stream of thoughts from Benj entered his mind. Since he wasn't expecting it, he stumbled slightly.

"Whoa, there. You okay big guy?" Tabitha asked.

He nodded, and opened his mind to the memories now flooding into his head. Benj was updating him on everything that happened this afternoon. The skaters, the break-in, and the attack. Leo paid especially close attention to the appearance of this "Ray" that blasted Benj.

After the flow of thoughts stopped, Leo glanced around to find the attacker. He was standing with Bobby, and Sam cracking jokes. Leo growled.

Tabitha followed his gaze. She noticed that he seemed on edge. "Uh, Leo?"

He wasn't listening. He half-shifted when Tabitha threw a small firecracker at his feet. Leo stumbled back and fell on the cement. Leo shook himself off and took some big breaths, shifting back to human. Amara looked confused, while Tabitha helped him back up.

Logan looked at Charles, "I have a feeling that this new recruit is going to be a lot of work."

The professor agreed, "Yes, it would seem he has less control than he led us to believe."

At the Brotherhood Boarding House

The Brotherhood boys were bored out of their minds.

Ever since the Apocalypse incident, they had nothing to do. Magneto still wanted little to do with them, and Mystique had disappeared yet again. Life was starting to become a dull repeat. Every day they woke up to do nothing, and went to bed knowing they would do nothing the next day.

The only thing that kept Lance going was that his relationship with Kitty had started up once again. He would leave the dismal life of the Brotherhood behind for a few glorious hours with Kitty nearly every day. Not like anyone at the Brotherhood cared what he did, but he had a tendency to sneak out none the less.

Lance looked out of his window. The path he took so frequently now was like second nature. He climbed out the window onto the roof, and then skidded down to the ground. It was a short drive to the Xavier Institute; Lance just hoped Kitty would be faster. It could get really awkward to just sit in his Jeep outside the gates.

As Lance crept past the windows, Pietro noticed him. "Hey what's Lance doing?" he asked in his speedy way.

Fred rolled over in his chair and shrugged, "I don't know, and I don't care." He paused, "Well he has been leavin just around this time every few days."

Pietro sped to the windows that looked to the front of the house. "If it was up to me I'd say he had himself a girl friend."

"Nah, Lance couldn't even get Kitty to like him." Toad mocked, hopping down the stairs. He joined Pietro at the window. "Wait a minute, is Lance wearing a buttoned shirt?" he asked completely surprised. "And look at that! His jeans ain't ripped!"

Pietro snickered. "Looks like our little Avalanche has caught himself a Kitty."

Charles Xavier was making introductions to the new mutants. He just finished introducing everyone in the common room, including the adults. Benj sat next to Leo, who was standing, in a wheelchair borrowed from the professor. He still wasn't feeling strong enough to stand on his own, but wasn't going to miss being introduced to everyone.

The professor gestured to the new mutants each in turn, "This is Leo Dyson, Benj Dents, and that is Tyler Dyson." Ty was still standing off to the side, face covered, but he walked up behind Benj and stood there.

Leo flashed his smile that was starting to become a common sight to the X-Men. "Thanks, guys. We're really looking forward to staying here."

"So your parents just allowed you to come stay here?" Bobby asked. "I know my parents put up quite a fight."

Leo and Benj's faces darkened. Leo frowned and felt anger rising up inside of him, and walked out.

"Leo!" the professor called after him.

"I'll go talk to him…" Ty said leaving as well.

An awkward silence extended out. Benj cleared his throat. "Uh… excuse my brothers. Their parents died recently, and they're having a hard time."

"Wait, their parents? Don't yall both have the same parents?" Rogue questioned.

"Well, see… My parents died when I was seven. They were killed in a car crash. The Dysons, well their mom and step-dad, were my godparents, and adopted me." His voice wavered. "They died in a fire a few months ago. It's been hard on all of us."

The professor spoke, "We're sorry for your loss Benj. I'll go talk to Leo as well." He turned to the X-Men. "Scott, Kurt, give Benj a tour of the mansion. The rest of you are free to go."

Rogue was walking back to her room. Ever since her self-possessed event, she had been given her own room. This promised a bit more space between her and the voices in her head. Currently there was a book on her nightstand with her name on it, Leviathan.

She walked by Kitty's open door. Inside she was preparing for her date with Lance. She was stressing out over what shirt to wear. Rogue walked in unnoticed. "Are ya goin' on anothah date with Lance?"

Kitty yelped. She turned to face Rogue, "Like, don't do that!" she rushed over and closed the door behind Rogue. "Like, why don't you just announce it to, like, the whole mansion, you know?"

Rogue laughed at her as she sat on Kitty's bed. "Might as well, seein' that ya'll are so mushy."

Kitty rolled her eyes, and selected her shirt.

Rogue leaned forward and asked softly, "So are ya goin' ta tell him?"

Kitty pulled on the new shirt and stared at Rogue. "Tell him, like, what?"

She leaned back on the bed. "That ya love him, of course!"

"I don't know what you mean." Kitty said, her face set like stone. She was a terrible liar.

Again, Rogue laughed at the confused girl. "Don't give me crap, Kitty. Ya're inside mah head. Plus since ya are still riskin' everyone findin' out, and makin' fun of ya for it, ya must be." Rogue had the uncanny ability to know just what was going on, since all the X-Men were inside her head.

Kitty frowned, "But what if, like, you know, he doesn't love me back? Like, I'm not ready to make that big a fool of myself."

Rogue got up and stood next to her friend. "Ya forgot again. Lance is in mah head too. Ah know for a fact he loves ya." When Kitty looked ready to protest, Rogue turned her around to face her and continued. "Ah mean, think about it. Lance has nothing in his life right now, but ya. The Brothahhood ain't there for him, Magneto doesn't want him, hell, Lance ain't sure if he even wants himself." Her emerald eyes connected with the younger girl's hazel ones. "All he has is ya, Kitty."

She turned away. Since they stopped sharing a room, the two girls had actually grown closer. Kitty was the first one Rogue would talk to about her dreams, if she could avoid getting the professor involved, and Kitty began to rely more on Rogue's input when it came to her and Lance. It was hard keeping your boyfriend a secret from the whole school, but Rogue helped her however she could.

In a surge of gratitude, Kitty turned around and hugged Rogue. She stiffened, even with clothes completely covering both of them, Rogue wasn't used to any type of touching. Standing there unsure what to do, she watched Kitty melt through the floor.

"Well that could've been better." Leo grumbled to himself. Both Ty and the professor had come to talk to him about storming off. Neither really knew what had been going through his head. Ty hadn't known the full story of what happened after their parents' deaths; he'd been in the fire! Leo blamed himself for it, thanks to his damn mutation. (Though that story is for another time.)

Then the professor started trying to understand, and that really got his goat. The bald man attempted to pry into his thoughts, both literally and metaphorically. Every time that man poked his mind into Leo's, he felt it. Benj had trained him to feel even the most gentlest of physic blasts, and to repel them. At the time, and even still he wasn't sure why'd they trained, but either way he was glad for it. To make it worse every time Leo sent the professor's mind away, the professor would get this funny look on his face, and would raise an eyebrow. That got annoying.

No bald men in my head, oh no. Leo said to himself. Now once again he would be in trouble for leaving in the middle of a conversation, but he couldn't take it. His mother and Pablo's deaths… they were too fresh in his mind.

Ty turned his bright red head to the professor. "I just don't know what, professor."

Professor X shook his head, "When he's ready he'll talk about it; but until then we'll wait."

'Scott, Kurt, see if you can find Leo, and then come to my office. You can give the tour to all three of our new students.' The professor's mental voice rang out.

'On it!' Kurt mentally replied. He ported into the professor's office and took Ty by the arm. Ty jerked away.

"Ahhh! A little warning!" he yelled out. His hood fell off his head.

Before he could stop himself, Kurt took a sharp intake of breath. It was the first time he had completely seen Tyler's face. Tyler shrank back, ashamed.

"No, dude. It's cool!" Kurt said over enthusiastically. "I get it." He'd been furry and blue all afternoon (well, and his life), but none of the new students took any notice. Now he knew why, Ty's appearance was quite shocking. "Come on, man! I'll show you around." With that, Kurt grabbed his elbow and ported out.

"…and this is the Danger Room. The last, and most exciting part of our tour." Scott said. He and Kurt had showed the three mutants everything, but saved the best for last. Logan and some of the younger students were having a Danger Room session.

"Kurt, put us up in the control booth. We can get the best view from there." Scott grinned.

Despite Leo's foul mood, he'd enjoyed the tour; but what he saw in the Danger Room made the night.

Logan's session was something on strategic points, knowing when and where to strike to get the most out of your punch. Leo didn't pay too much attention to that, but watched the action with determination.

Bobby (Iceman), Ray (Berserker), Amara (Magma), and Tabitha (Boom-boom) were suited up and ready. When it started, three cannons emerged from the floor. Leo felt the power fluctuating from the three. Although he was positive all three would hurt, he could feel that the cannon on the far left shorted out every fifteen seconds. The one in the middle had a weak connection between the laser part and its base. There was a small joint that it had that if hit, would destroy the whole thing. The last cannon was simply rotating around in a seemingly random pattern, shooting things. Though as Leo watched, the pattern was obvious: quarter turn right, half turn left, spin round twice going right, then a two-second increment between left and right turns before repeating.

He watched smugly as the newer X-Men tried several maneuvers.

"Come on guys!" Bobby yelled. There were smoking holes in their uniforms already. "Amara, try hitting the middle's cannon's joint!" Iceman had clearly taken charge. Amara sent a stream of lava through the air, right to the cannon's weak point. It crumbled.

Berserker was the next to take down cannon. He and Tabitha circled around the spinning cannon until he had a long enough break from dodging lasers to fire.

Finally, with only one cannon left the four of them focused their powers on it. The cannon exploded. The teens cheered, but Logan walked over grumbling.

"Took you all long enough." He frowned, but then flashed a smug smile, "But I guess you passed."

The teens cheered again and ran out of the Danger Room.

Logan looked up to the control panel, "Well, are you guys just gonna watch, or are you gonna take your turn?"

Scott turned on the intercom into the Danger Room, "No, Wolverine, we were just finishing our tour." He turned to the new mutants, "unless of course, you wanted to try it out before dinner?"

Benj shook his head, "No way, I can't even stand at the moment." He shoved off on his wheelchair and went rolling across the room.

Leo grinned with wolfish glee. "Sure, I'd love to try it out." He turned to Tyler, "Ty, you up for it?"

The older mutant stared at him with cold blue eyes, "No. I don't have any real powers anyways."

Scott turned to Ty. "Well, you'll never know if you don't try, but hey. Not everyone has to do Danger Room exercises on their first day. Come on Leo, you can borrow one of my old uniforms." He motioned for Leo to follow.

Leo looked really funny in Scott's uniform, and he knew it. When he wasn't shifted, he was just as skinny as Scott, but at least five inches shorter. The sleeves and pant legs were cuffed four times so it didn't swallow his hands and feet. Then there was when he was shifted. In his lion humanoid shift, Leo was as tall as Scott, but had twice the muscle. It looked like someone had tried to shove a football player into a scarecrow's clothes.

Logan couldn't help but chuckle when Scott and Leo came into the Danger Room. Both were suited up in matching uniforms, but it made Leo look like a Cyclops wantabee.

"Alright kid, I haven't seen you in your full out lion shift, so let's see it." Logan commanded.

Sighing Leo focused on shifting for a second. He shifted into a lion humanoid, his hair grew into a fiery mane, his jaw widened while his canines sharpened and grew longer. He finished his shift and was covered in golden fur. He flicked his tail from the small hole they had to cut out for it. He couldn't even move his arms. He felt ridiculous.

At least he wasn't being swallowed by the uniform.

Logan chuckled again, "Alright, you know what? I don't think this is gonna work. Can you even move in that thing?"

Leo looked down at himself and fingered the obnoxiously huge X on his chest. He groaned. "No, I feel like a sausage."

Wolverine chuckled. "Then we'll just have to hold off Danger Room fun until you get some proper slops." Just then a bell rang through the entire mansion. "Good thing too, it's time for dinner."

Dinner was a chaotic affair at the Xavier Mansion. Leo was joking around with all the other guys at the table. Benj sat next to him in his borrowed wheel chair. Ty was next, head still covered, sitting next to Kurt who had left his holographic disguise off.

The food was spread out all along the table, but a lot of the X-Men had food needs. Ray couldn't eat anything with peanuts, Kitty was a vegetarian, Rogue couldn't have her food touching (thanks Mazzie May for that idea), Scott was obsessed with health food, Bobby wouldn't eat anything with too much salt, and Kurt was afraid of eating anything blue. So extra "special needs food" was sprinkled throughout the normal food.

Everyone started digging in. Leo glanced awkwardly at Benj. 'Should we still say grace?' he asked mentally.

'Yeah, you want to?' Benj responded, bowing his head.

"Father God, thank you for this food. Also thanks for bringing us to the X-Men, I know this is goin' to be great." Kurt looked over at Leo and joined into the prayer.

"Thanks Lord for these new mutants. Leo, Benj, and Ty are great." Rogue looked at Kurt, raising an eyebrow, but remaining respectful. "Help Ty realize that here among friends, he has nothing to hide." Kurt finished.

"In Your name we pray, Amen." Leo ended with. He looked over at Kurt. "Do you usually-?"

"Da, but usually not out loud." Kurt grinned at Leo, "It's nice to know I'm not the only one though." He turned to Ty. "Maybe you should take your hood off now, no one here is going to care."

Ty shook his head. "Not now… I… I'm not ready yet." Kurt frowned slightly but said nothing.

"Where's Kitty?" Jean asked in general to everyone.

The table got quite for a second then Rogue said, "She wasn't feelin' well so she stayed upstairs in her room."

Storm got up, "Well then I'll just bring her dinner up to her."

Rogue stopped her, "Ya don't have to do that, Storm. Ah'll bring it up ta her." She grabbed the plate Storm had for Kitty and headed upstairs to feed the invisible Kitty.

"Kitty is so gonna owe me one." Rogue mumbled as she put the plate of food in Kitty's room.

Lance sat inside his Jeep, waiting for Kitty just outside the Xavier mansion's gates. He strained his eyes trying to catch a glimpse of Kitty on the grounds. At last she came into view. He smiled.

She phased through the gates and ran over to his Jeep. "Like, hi Lance. How's it going?"

"Pretty good." He got up out of the driver's seat and opened the car door for her. "I hope you like Italian, Kitty."

"Sounds delicious Lance."

He got back in the driver's seat and drove off.

"Right this way" the waiter said, leading the pair off to a table.

The restaurant was a simple one, Lance couldn't afford much, and he usually tried to deny Kitty from paying. The lighting was low and the waiter seated them in a corner off to the side.

When their food arrived, Lance dug in eagerly. He'd been skipping some meals to afford a special meal with Kitty. Tonight he was going to grow some balls and tell her.

"Uh, Kitty." He said, after they had spent several minutes making small talk.

"Yeah Lance?"

He took a deep breath and looked into her hazel eyes. Man, what did I get myself into? He asked himself. Things just kept getting harder. He'd backed out too many times though, Time to be a man. He leaned over and kissed her.

"I love you Kitty." He said quietly. "And I don't care what the others think."

She stared at him. "Rogue was right." She whispered.

Lance looked hurt. Rogue? What did she have to do with anything?

Kitty looked back up at Lance, and kissed him. "I love you too."

"Well then why did you mention Rogue, what does she have to do with it?" he asked hurt.

"Lance. It's just that just today she was talking to me about telling you that, you know, I love you." Kitty answered.

He was confused. "What? How did she-" he stopped. Her powers, you imbecile. "So if I hadn't just said it, you would have."

"Like, yeah. You know I hate how she knows more about our relationship then, like, we do."

Lance laughed. "You know Kitty; she's not that bad a friend to have. I wish one of the Brotherhood guys could be like her. I can't confide in any of those blockheads."

She giggled, "What? The Blob isn't the one you go to for relationship advice? Like I thought you did."

"Oh so you're gonna go there? I can't believe you take relationship advice from someone who's never been in one." He paused. "Sorry, that was rude. It's not Rogue's fault."

Kitty smiled to herself, Lance sure was a nice guy. "You know, Lance, you should, like, try to come back to the Institute." He grimaced, the last time hadn't ended well. "Oh come on Lance! I don't think they would act like they did the last time. You're different now."

He shook his head. "No way Kitty, maybe later on, but right now? There's still no way the X-Men would allow me there."

"Like, I don't know Lance. We just got three new mutants, so, like, at least the attention would be spread out. And like," she held his hand on the table, "I'd be there for you. Plus at least three guys there wouldn't know you already, you know?"

He turned away, "Let's just drop this Kitty. I want to have a lovely date with you, without the X-Men."

"Alright." She moved her chair beside his and kissed him again, wrapping her arms around him.

After dinner Leo and Benj headed to their room to unpack and personalize. Ty had his own room, since he was plenty older than any of the other students, already he experienced his twenty-seventh birthday.

Rogue was headed out to help Kitty sneak back in, without being noticed. Easier said than done.

The Jeep pulled up while Rogue stood just outside the gate. Kitty leaned over and kissed Lance again, mumbling a good-bye. Rogue rolled her eyes. Couples.

"Come on Kitty!" she hissed. Kitty stuck her tongue out at Rogue. Lance came over to Kitty's side and opened her door.

"I would walk you all the way back, but…" he trailed off.

She kissed him again, getting a snort from Rogue. "It's okay, we'll tell them some other time." Then she left, phasing through the gate to Rogue.

"So mushy!" Rogue whispered to Kitty as they slunk back across the grounds.

End note: The book I mentioned, Leviathan, is real. AND AWESOME! It's by Scott Westerfield (he wrote the Uglies) and I suggest you check it out.

I hope you appreciated my English to Spanish translations. They might be distracting, but I feel like you lose something if something's not said in Spanish.

I was going to have Ray (Berserker) be Leo and Benj's rival within the X-Men, but while I was writing this chapter I changed my mind. I started to realize Ray would be the perfect friend for Leo to have, so I stopped my rivalary idea. I'm open to suggestions on who should be their X-Men 'friendly' rival.

Next chapter will have more Wolverine. (Yes!)